Discuss in Boards More at IMDb Pro Add to My Movies Update Data
Quicklinks
Top Links
trailers and videosfull cast and crewtriviaofficial sitesmemorable quotesOverview
main detailscombined detailsfull cast and crewcompany creditstv scheduleAwards & Reviews
user commentsexternal reviewsnewsgroup reviewsawardsuser ratingsparents guiderecommendationsmessage boardPlot & Quotes
plot summarysynopsisplot keywordsAmazon.com summarymemorable quotesFun Stuff
triviagoofssoundtrack listingcrazy creditsalternate versionsmovie connectionsFAQOther Info
merchandising linksbox office/businessrelease datesfilming locationstechnical specslaserdisc detailsDVD detailsliterature listingsNewsDeskPromotional
taglines trailers and videos posters photo galleryExternal Links
showtimesofficial sitesmiscellaneousphotographssound clipsvideo clipsThe Spirit of St. Louis (1957) More at IMDbPro »
| Photos (see all 12 | slideshow) | Videos |
Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Charles A. Lindbergh (book)
Billy Wilder (screenplay) ...
more
Release Date:
20 April 1957 (USA) more
Tagline:
The Story Behind the Story of Lindbergh's Incredible Flight to Paris! more
Plot:
Charles 'Slim' Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. more
User Comments:
Quite uplifting, this rather forgotten Wilder more (34 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast)| James Stewart | ... | Charles Augustus 'Slim' Lindbergh | |
| Murray Hamilton | ... | Bud Gurney | |
| Patricia Smith | ... | Mirror Girl | |
| Bartlett Robinson | ... | Benjamin Frank Mahoney, President Ryan Airlines Co. | |
| Marc Connelly | ... | Father Hussman | |
| Arthur Space | ... | Donald Hall, Chief Engineer Ryan Airlines | |
| Charles Watts | ... | O.W. Schultz, Salesman Atlas Suspender Co. |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
135 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound Recording) | 4-Track Stereo
Certification:
Iceland:L | UK:U | Finland:S | West Germany:6 | USA:Approved (certificate #17794)
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
James Stewart was given the role of Charles Lindbergh after John Kerr had turned it down, owing to his disapproval of Lindbergh's pro-Nazi sympathies and his racist and anti-Semitic views. This was despite the fears of the producers that Stewart was too old for the part. more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: When Lindbergh arrives back at St. Louis with the newly built Spirit of St Louis, he taxies up to the building where one of his banker friends is waiting for him. Lindbergh then gets out of the plane and starts fingering the still hot cylinders of the engine. He certainly would be cautious about touching an engine that had just been running for many hours for fear of burning his skin off. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Reporter:
[checking his copy] Here at the Garden City Hotel, less than a mile from Roosevelt Field... less than three-quarters of a mile from Roosevelt Field... everyone is waiting, as they have been now for seven days and nights, waiting for the rain to stop...
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Goodbye Girl (2004) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
Spirit of Independence more
FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (34 total)
Message Boards
Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) moreRecommendations
|
|
|
|
|
| The Aviator | Ceiling Zero | The Assassination of Richard Nixon | 40,000 Miles with Lindbergh | Air Force |
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
IMDb User Rating:
|
Related Links
| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| IMDb Adventure section | IMDb USA section | Add this title to MyMovies |











Someone once said to me that there are only four basic movie plots: the first, boy meets girl: the second, man against apparently insuperable odds: the others.....I can't remember. Although I am not by nature agoraphobic, I guess when it comes to cinema I prefer the cosily domestic to wide open spaces. Every so often, however, I find myself responding to man battling it out against the elements, particularly if the point is being made that, without the sheer determination of an individual to grapple with prejudice and ignorance, civilization would not gain a pace or two forward. Billy Wilder's epic of human endeavour, "The Spirit of St. Louis", is just such an instance. It is heaps better than most in this category mainly through the excellent central performance by James Stewart as Charles Lindbergh, the first successful transatlantic flyer. True, Stewart was twice the age of the man he was portraying but he brilliantly manages the demeanour of a much younger person and has the advantage of being one of the very few actors able to convey the determined obsessive fanaticism that Lindbergh must have possessed. One can admire Wilder's skill in sustaining audience interest throughout what is essentially a one character and a one scene film but he achieves it through interspersing the present from the night before the takeoff, with flashbacks that retell the background to the mission, each a little story in itself, some quite tense such as Lindbergh's adventurous flight during a blizzard when he was a flying mail courier and others rather droll such as giving a flying lesson to a priest who is the most incompetent would-be aviator ever. The main journey once it gets going is mainly smooth and something of a leisurely travelogue with nice views over Nova Scotia and Newfoundland on the way. Far more dramatic is the takeoff during foul weather from a rain drenched runway in which Stewart grapples with his tiny aircraft narrowly clearing pylons and a clump of trees. The miracle that so flimsy a machine could make it not only for a few miles but across a vast ocean is reinforced by the hazardous implications of this wonderfully atmospheric sequence in a way that make the journey and the arrival in Paris quite uplifting.